I closed on the sale of my home on March 31st. Through no skill, just a rising tide of increasing home values, I managed to live in a brand new house for 31 months with zero costs.
I sold my home to Zillow for $266,700. I bought it for $214,990. That's a $51,710 profit, or an average increase of $1,668 per month.
The largest expense of homeownership was the interest I paid on the loan. My mortgage was 4.75%. I tried refinancing - twice - and both times our broken underwriting process decided I could not afford to save money on my monthly payments. Frustrated, this became the impetus for selling. I don't like being taken advantage of. I paid a total of $19,990 in interest while I owned the home.
There were significant other expenses to owning this home. I bought in a new development, and most neighborhoods these days have an HOA. That only scratched the surface of the nuisance of owning in this neighborhood. You see, I also paid CDD (Community Development District) fees. This included interest on debt the developer took on to build the neighborhood, from laying fiber internet and street lights to a zero-entry pool and playground we never used. Combined, HOA and CDD fees were about $400/month.
There was also homeowner's insurance. This wasn't significant, a few hundred dollars per year. New, concrete-block homes don't cost much to insure.
Last, there were some closing costs, both when I bought the house and when I sold it.
Add everything up, and my profit from selling the house completely covered my carrying costs while living there.